Share of the Week: Fresnillo

The price of gold surged nearly 4 per cent on the day after Donald Trump was electedJOHNNY HAGLUND/GETTY IMAGES

Donald Trump’s election was a big moment for the gold and silver mining giant Fresnillo. This isn’t because its owner Alberto Baillères, an 86-year-old self-made Mexican billionaire, is a supporter of the US president.

Far from it. It’s because when the world becomes unpredictable investors tend to flee from conventional currency, buy up precious metals and drive up their value. On the night of the US election, November 8, 2016, the price of gold surged nearly 4 per cent to $1,316 an ounce — the biggest rise since the Brexit vote.

Meanwhile, as Mr Trump campaigned for the White House throughout 2016, with a volley of angry tirades against Mexico, the value of the peso plunged 17 per cent — and helped keep the company’s production…

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